Rabbit of Seville
Rabbit of Seville is a 1950 Looney Tunes short directed by Chuck Jones. Plot People fill a theater to see "The Barber of Seville". In back of the theater, Bugs is chased by Elmer and runs through an open back door. Elmer, now behind the curtain, doesn't see it rise when Bugs raises it. The conductor, after a brief confused look at his watch, shrugs, then starts the orchestra, which causes Elmer to turn wide-eyed towards the audience. Bugs then steps out from behind a stage door, dressed in a barber's outfit and ropes Elmer into getting a shave, rendering him "nice and clean, although his face looks like it might have gone though a machine". After recovering, Elmer starts the chase again (performing his only line in the cartoon: "Oh, Wait till I get that wabbit!"), but is stopped by Bugs dressed as a temptress (possibly Rosina from the actual Barber of Seville opera), singing, "Oh, what would you want with a rabbit? Can't you see that I'm much sweeter? I'm your little senioriter. You're my type of guy, let me straighten your tie, and I will dance for you." He then ties Elmer's shotgun into a bowtie (no dialogue is heard from this point onwards until the end) and snips off Elmer's pants suspender buttons, while dancing around him. After being thoroughly embarrassed when his pants fall down, Elmer sees through Bugs' disguise, he tries shooting him, but is blown back into the barber's chair. Bugs has another go with Elmer's scalp, beginning with a scalp massage with his hands and feet, turning his head into a fruit salad bowl (complete with cherry on top). Elmer chases Bugs again, but Bugs plays a snake charmer to get an electric shaver to chase Elmer. Elmer disables the shaver with a shotgun blast and chases Bugs back to the barber's chairs. Bugs and Elmer raise their chairs to dizzying heights, and Bugs cuts loose a stage sandbag which bonks Elmer, causing Elmer to wander around in a daze until he's back (yet again) in Bugs' barber chair. Before Bugs' third go-round with Elmer's scalp, he gives one of his feet a pedicure with a can opener, hedge clippers, file and red paint. This is followed by growing a beard on Elmer's face and shaving it with a miniature mower, and finally beauty clay for the face which Bugs handles like cement. Then it's back to the scalp as Bugs massages it with hair tonic first, then adds "Figaro Fertilizer", causing hair to grow from Elmer's head which sprouts into flowers. A short 'arms chase' ensues as a result where Bugs and Elmer chase each other off stage with bigger weapons (first axes, then guns, then cannons). Finally, Bugs ends the chase by offering flowers, chocolates and a ring to Elmer, who ducks offstage and comes back as the blushing bride, happily wanting Bugs to marry him. The tune then briefly switches to the "Wedding March" by Mendelssohn as the couple marries, before finishing with Bugs carrying his 'beautiful bride' up a long flight of stairs, through a false doorway (opening up onto thin air), and drops Fudd down into a wedding cake labeled "The Marriage of Figaro". Bugs then smirks, munches on a carrot and says, "Eh... NEXT!" Availability * (1985) VHS - A Salute to Mel Blanc * (1985) VHS - Elmer Fudd's Comedy Capers * (1999) VHS - Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 5: Musical Masterpieces * (2003) DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1 (low pitch) * (2010) DVD - The Essential Bugs Bunny, Disc 1 * (2011) DVD - Looney Tunes Super Stars' Bugs Bunny: Wascally Wabbit (Region 4 only) * (2011) Blu-ray, DVD - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc 1 (low pitch) * (2015) DVD - Looney Tunes Musical Masterpieces (low pitch) * (2020) DVD - Looney Tunes Parodies Collection ** The audio on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 ''DVD incorrectly has the soundtrack at a lower pitch than usual. This is fixed on ''The Essential Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes Parodies Collection but not on the Platinum Collection, presumably due to the latter home media release reusing the same low-pitched audio commentary as for Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 ''DVD release, something which ''The Essential Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes Parodies Collection DVD releases did not have. Censorship * The ABC airing mutes out some of the sound effects of Elmer shooting in the beginning. The shot of Bugs slashing Elmer's face with a razor was also cut by replacing it with a cropped shot of Bugs holding a mirror (which appeared after Elmer got slashed) and grimacing in disgust while the sound of the slashing played as normal. Also cut was the segment where Bugs ties Elmer's gun into a knot. It skips from the shot of Bugs doing a provocative thrust backwards towards the camera to the shot of Elmer being flung back into the barber chair, attempting to suggest some continuity between the two.http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-q-r.aspx Notes * The Barber of Seville poster that appears at the start of the film features three names: Eduardo Selzeri, Michele Maltese and Carlo Jonzi, which are Italianized versions of the names of the producer (Eddie Selzer), writer (Michael Maltese) and director (Chuck Jones) of the film."Rabbit Of Seville Production Information". bcdb.com, March 27, 2010 * In one shot of the scene where Bugs massages Elmer's head in time to the piano melody, his hands are drawn with five digits instead of the usual four to match the hand of a piano player. * The short was re-released on January 18, 1969 as a Blue Ribbon short, but the credits and original target rings were never altered or cut off. Only the production code was changed. * The production code for its 1950 release is 1138; the production code for its 1969 re-release is 7301. * This short was used in the TV Special, Bugs Bunny's Overtures to Disaster. * George Daugherty made use of the short for his special concerts, Bugs Bunny on Broadway and Bugs Bunny at the Symphony. * This short was briefly shown on the TV sets in the penthouse of Gotham Royal Hotel in the video game Batman: Arkham Origins, specifically during Joker's confrontation with Batman when about to detonate the Woolworth building's top. Music from the episode and the opera it was largely based on was also playing in the background during this scene. * The chase is punctuated with gags and accompanied by musical arrangements by Carl W. Stalling, focusing on Rossini's overture to The Barber of Seville. * Stalling's arrangement is remarkable in that the overture's basic structure is kept relatively intact; some repeated passages are removed and the overall piece is conducted at a faster tempo to accommodate the cartoon's standard running length. * In 1994 it was voted #12 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.https://mubi.com/lists/the-50-greatest-cartoons-as-selected-by-1000-animation-professionals * This short plays in PAL audio when shown on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. Gallery RabbitOfSeville.jpg The Rabbit of Seville.png|Bugs Bunny forces Elmer Fudd into a barber's chair for a series of outlandish treatments. References Further Reading * Lawrence Van Gelder, With That Wascally Wabbit, That's Not All, Folks, NY Times, October 22, 1999 * Richard Freedman, What's Opera, Doc?, Adante Magazine, March 2002 External Links * "Rabbit of Seville" at SuperCartoons.net * "Rabbit of Seville" at B99.TV * * * Rabbit of Seville on the SFX Resource Wiki Category:1950 Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones Category:Bugs Bunny Cartoons Category:Elmer Fudd Cartoons Category:Hollywood in Cartoons Category:Shorts Category:Blue Ribbon reissues Category:Looney Tunes Shorts Category:Bugs Bunny Chuck Jones Category:Cartoons written by Michael Maltese Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling Category:Cartoons with layouts by Robert Gribbroek Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Philip DeGuard Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc Category:Cartoons animated by Emery Hawkins Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist